National Criminal Justice Legal Services

About the Project   |  How to Get Help   |   Publications   |  Accomplishments

The Legal Action Center (LAC) is dedicated to helping people who face discrimination based on their criminal history. Beginning with a series of class action law suits and other successful litigation in the 1970's and 1980's challenging discrimination in employment and government benefits, LAC has won precedent-setting victories opening up tens of thousands of jobs and many other opportunities across a wide range of areas of American life for these important and deserving constituencies. For legal citations and brief descriptions of cases brought by LAC, download the Legal Action Center’s Leading Cases which can be found in the Free Publications section of this web site.

 

In the 1970's and 1980's, under the leadership of founding Director, Elizabeth Bartholet, and her successors, LAC conducted a highly successful litigation strategy that overturned policies that denied employment across-the-board to people with arrest or conviction histories. LAC employed a variety of legal theories, including race discrimination and constitutional and statutory claims, to win many significant victories. In addition, a member of LAC’s Board of Directors, Michael Melstner, drafted New York State’s pioneering law (Article 23-A of the Corrections Law) prohibiting unfair discrimination against people with criminal records who seek employment for which they are qualified, and LAC lawyers brought and won a series of precedent-setting cases solidifying the protections contained in that law.

 

LAC’s current criminal justice litigation focus is in New York State, but we hope to resume such anti-discrimination litigation outside of New York when funding permits.

 

 

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How to Get Help


If your legal problem is not in New York State:


We are sorry we cannot provide these services to individuals outside of New York. LAC’s National HIRE Network provides information about state-specific governmental agencies and community-based organizations to assist people with criminal records. These agencies and organizations may be of assistance in providing job-related services, answering questions related to problems arising from having a criminal record, or offering referrals to other useful organizations.
For those in New York State:
Visit the NY Criminal Justice Legal Services section of this web site. You can also visit NY Alcohol and Drug Legal Services or NY HIV/AIDS Legal Services.


THE CENTER WILL NOT RESPOND TO REQUESTS FOR ASSISTANCE SENT TO THE LEGAL ACTION CENTER'S E-MAIL ADDRESS OR WEBSITE.

 

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Free Publications Available


The Center has written a number of user-friendly publications for individuals and service providers, which explain anti-discrimination laws and privacy laws that protect individuals with criminal records, alcohol/drug histories, and/or HIV/AIDS. To download these and other Legal Action Center publications, visit the Free Publications section of this website.

The Center also has produced a free webinars series called Know Your Rights: Anti-Discrimination Laws Protecting People with Alcohol and Drug Problems and Criminal Records. To watch any of the webinars at any time, visit the Webinar Archive.

For information on the publications, videos, DVDs and online courseware that the Center sells, visit the Online Store.

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Accomplishments

 

  • Won many victories in court since the early 1970's establishing the right of people with criminal justice histories to be free from discrimination in employment, zoning, benefits, and other necessities of life. For legal citations and brief descriptions of cases brought by LAC, download the Legal Action Center’s Leading Cases which can be found in the Free Publications section of this web site.
  • Overturned policies by large employers, including U.S. Postal Service and New York City Transit Authority, that banned hiring of people with arrest and conviction histories (Sutherland v. U.S. Postal Service; Connolly v. New York City Transit Authority.
  • Reformed criminal justice and drug policies, including overturning Rockefeller drug laws’ maximum life sentence for sale of small – and possession of small and medium – amounts of heroin and cocaine through litigation that led to legislative repeal of those provisions (Carmona v. Ward); outlawing of sweep arrests without probable cause (Dominguez v. Beame); and ending guard-on-inmate brutality in New York City jail for adolescent inmates Outlaw v. D’Elia).
  • LAC represented foster parents in successful adoption of their foster child in the first case applying amendments to New York’s statute that implemented the federal Adoption and Safe Families Act. In the Matter of J.M., (Bronx Family Ct. Aug. 15, 2000) the parents, who had raised the eleven year old child since birth, were initially disqualified from being foster and adoptive parents under the state’s statute because of the father’s criminal record. Amendments lifted the statutory bar to custody by individuals who had been convicted of serious crimes, and the court found that the father was completely rehabilitated and provided the child with a stable and loving home.

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